It’s January 30, 2022 as I type this. A few days ago, I put out a video on the YouTube channel where I looked through the parts I have on hand and ordered a strat body and loaded pickguard from GFS, aka guitarfetish.com. I had to crank the video out kind of quickly, so I’m posting this handy checklist as a companion to the Partscaster Build series.
If you want to build a strat from parts, you will need:
- Strat neck
- Nut
- Tuners
- String Tree
- Back Plate
- Four neck screws
- Body
- Pickguard
- Pickguard Screws
- Three pickups
- Two or three pots
- One or two capacitors
- Wires
- Five Way Switch
- Output Jack
- Bridge Plate with Screws
- Trem Block
- Trem Block Screws
- Six Saddles with screws and springs
- Trem Claw
- Two to Four Trem Springs
- Back Plate with Screws (Optional)
The great thing about Strats is that you can upgrade pretty much every part on them. That means you could turn a Squier Standard Strat into an American Strat, one part at a time, if you want to. It means the Strat is also the most repairable guitar on the market. It’s one of the many reasons I love the Strat.
But the Strat is not currently my favorite guitar – that honor goes to my PRS S2 Satin 24. Why? The single biggest reason is the scale length. The PRS scale length is 25, slightly more than a Gibson Les Paul and slightly less than a Strat. The frets on a Strat are further apart than on a PRS. That makes the PRS slightly easier to play.
There’s also the sound. Yes, a humbucker in a Strat can sound like a humbucker in any guitar, but when you put a humbucker in a Strat, you lose something in the middle/bridge position.
Still, there’s some music that doesn’t sound right on any other guitar. When you want a Strat sound, you need a Stratocaster. Or a Partscaster.
Happy Building!